Am I Obligated To Follow This Advice From Confession

[Poorly Catechized Convert]

The last two times I went to confession it was with a priest that I have never met. These were the only times I had contact with him. Well they also happen to coincide with the weeks in which I was at my worst. So during the first confession, since I new the following week would be very stressful, I chose to confess some things that I wouldn't normally mention. I wanted to make sure my mind was clear when I left the confessional (this probably wasn't the best thing to do). There were also things that I wanted to mention to see if he'd tell me if I was being scrupulous or not. Most of the things I mentioned were sins that I truly committed; definitely not fleeting thoughts. In addition, I felt that I omitted ( I definitely didn't forget it) something in my previous confession so I thought that it could be invalid. When I mentioned this he took it as me re-confessing sins; for this reason I feel the he miss-understood me quite a bit. It doesn't help that one of the things I wanted to mention was something I had confessed (as a result I knew it was forgiven), but I had a question about it. Then during the second confession, I can't remember what happened for sure, except that he didn't like me trying to mention sins that I was unable to confess the last time. Again, I knew they were forgiven, but I was always taught that since they weren't mentioned I still had to confess them. Plus I had a question about both of them. In his view, since they were forgiven they didn't need to be mentioned. At the end of that second confession, he told me that I had a mental problem (true, I do have OCD) and highly suggested I seek mental help.

 

Okay, here's my problem with that: I was at my worst those two weeks; I'm not usually that bad and I have a good handle on my OCD. Most of my problems come, I believe, from bad catechesis. I have no knowledge of moral theology and as a result I have nothing to latch onto. I'm fairly rational and once I know why I don't need to worry about something I can get over it, in future situations. I went through the same thing when I was a Protestant. Once I knew why I had nothing to fear I was able to move past my problems. Now as a Catholic, I can't go to the people I trusted then and I don't know any solid priests to take my problems to. As a result, I'm left to figure everything out on my own. In addition, this priest doesn't know me. Our only contact was during these two confessions. I don't feel like this gives him adequate knowledge to make such a judgment. He doesn't know how I am on most weeks and he's only seen me at my worst. If it came from a priest I knew and trusted I'd be more inclined to listen. So do I have to take his advice? I'm not asking this out of arrogance or pride. I'm not above seeking mental help; when things got bad a few years ago I chose to do just that, on my own initiative. It's just that I know myself  and things aren't near bad enough to warrant it.

[cappie]

The priest gave you advice, not a command. He is not your usual confessor so I would not be worried about it. Talk to your usual priest,